Chapter Eleven

The Lester's heard Dude blowing the horn far down the tobacco road long before the new automobile¹ came within sight, and they all ran to the farthest corner of the yard, and even out into the broom-sedge, to see Dude and Bessie arrive. Even the old grandmother was excited, and she waited behind a chinaberry tree to be among the first to see the new car. "Here they come!" Jeeter shouted. "Just look at them! It's a brand-new automobile, all right--just look at that shiny black paint! Great-day-in-the-morning! Just look at them coming yonder!" Dude was driving about twenty miles an hour, and he was so busy blowing the horn he forgot to slow down when he turned into the yard. The car jolted² across the ditch, throwing Bessie against the top three or four times in quick succession, and breaking several leaves of the rear spring. Dude slowed down then, and the automobile rolled across the yard and came to a stop by the side of the house. Jeeter was the first to reach the new motor car. He had run behind it while Dude was putting on the brakes, and he had held to the rear mudguard while trying to keep up with it. Ellie May and Ada were not far behind. The grandmother came as quickly as she could. "I never seen a finer-looking automobile in all my days," Jeeter said. "It sure does make me happy again to see such a handsome machine. Don't you reckon you could take me for a little trip, Bessie? I sure would like to go off in it for a piece." Bessie opened the door and got out. The first thing she did was to take the bottom of her skirt and rub the dust off of the front fenders. "I reckon we can take you riding in it some time," she said. "When me and Dude gets back, you can go riding." "Where is you and Dude going to, Bessie?" "We're going to ride around like married folks," she said proudly. "When folks get married, they always like to take a little ride together somewhere." Ada and Ellie May inspected the car with stifled³ admiration⁴. Both of them then gathered up the bottoms of their skirts and shined the doors and fenders. The new automobile shone in the 'bright sun like a looking-glass when they had finished. Dude climbed over the door and ordered his mother and sister away from the car. "You and Ellie May will be ruining it," he said. "Don't put your hands on it and don't stand too close to it." "Did you and Dude get married in Fuller?" Jeeter asked Bessie. "Not all the way," she said. "I got leave of the county, however. It cost two dollars to do that little bit." "Ain't you going to get a preacher to finish doing it?" "I is not! Ain't I a preacher of the gospel? I'm going to do it myself. I wouldn't allow no Hard-shell Baptist to fool with us." "I knowed you would do it the right way," Jeeter said. "You sure is a fine woman preacher, Sister Bessie." Bessie moved toward the front porch, twisting the marriage license⁵ in her hands. Every one else was still looking at the new automobile. Ellie May and Ada stood at a safe distance so Dude would not run them away with a stick. The old grandmother had gone behind a chinaberry tree again, awed⁶ by the sight. Dude walked around in a circle so he could see all sides of the car. He wanted to be certain that nobody put his hands on the car and dulled its lustre⁷. Jeeter sat down on his heels and admired it. Bessie had gone half way up the front steps, and she was trying to attract Dude's attention. She coughed several times, scraped her feet on the boards, and rapped on the porch with her knuckles⁸. Jeeter heard her, and he looked around to find out what she was doing. "By God and by Jesus!" he said, jumping to his feet. "Now wasn't that just like a fool man?" The others turned around and looked at Bessie. Ellie May giggled⁹ from behind the chinaberry tree. "Ada," Jeeter said, "Sister Bessie is wanting to go in the house. You go show her in." Ada went inside and threw open the blinds. She could be heard dragging chairs around the room and pushing the beds back into the corners. "Didn't you and Dude stop off in the woods coming back from Fuller?" he asked Bessie. "We was in a hurry to get back here," she said. "I mentioned it, sort of, to Dude, but he was blowing the horn so much he couldn't hear me." "Dude," Jeeter said, "don't you see how bad Sister Bessie is wanting to go in the house? You go in there with her--I'll keep my eye on the automobile." While Dude was being urged to go into the house, Bessie went slowly across the porch to the door, waiting to see if Dude were following. Ellie May drew herself up on her toes and tried to look into the bedroom through the open window. Ada was still busily engaged in straightening up the room, and every few minutes she would push a chair across the floor and jerk an end of one of the beds into a new position. "What is they going to do in there, Ma?" Ellie May asked. Ada came to the window and leaned out. She pushed Ellie May's hands from the sill and motioned to her to go away. "Sister Bessie and Dude is married," she said. "Now you go away and stop trying to see inside. You ain't got no business seeing of them." After her mother had left the window, Ellie May again raised herself on the sill and looked inside. Dude had gone as far as the front door, but he lingered there to take one more look at the automobile. He stood there until Ada came out and pushed him inside and made him go into the room with Bessie. There was barely any furniture in the room. Besides the three double beds, there was a wobbly dresser in the corner, which was used as a washstand and a table. Over it, hanging on the wall, was a cracked mirror. In the opposite end of the room was the fireplace. A broom-sedge sweeper stood behind the door, and another one, completely worn out, was under Ada's bed. There were also two straight-backed chairs in the room. As there were no closets in the house, clothes were hanging on the walls by nails that had been driven into the two-by-four uprights. The moment Dude walked into the room, Bessie slammed the door, and pulled him with her. She took the marriage license from her skirt pocket and held it in front of her. "You hold one end, Dude, and I'll hold the other." "What you going to do?" "Marry us, Dude," she said. "Didn't you get that done at the courthouse in Fuller?" "That wasn't all. I'm doing the balance now." "When is we going to take a ride?" he asked. "It won't be so very long now. We want to stay here a little while first. We got plenty of time to ride around, Dude." "You going to let me drive it all the time?" "Sure, you can drive it all the time. I don't know how to drive it, noway." "You ain't going to let nobody else drive it, is you?" "You is the only one who can drive it, Dude," she said. "But we got to hurry and finish marrying. You hold your end of the license while I pray." Dude stood beside her, waiting for the prayer to be finished. She prayed silently for several minutes while he stood in front of her. "I marry us man and wife. So be it. That's all, God. Amen." There was a long silence while they looked at each other. "When is we going for a ride?" Dude said. "We is married now, Dude. We is finished being married. Ain't you glad of it?" "When is we going for a ride?" Dude said. "I got to pray now," she said. "You kneel down on the floor while I make a little prayer." They knelt down to pray. Dude got down on all fours, looking straight into Bessie's nose while her eyes were closed. "Dear God, Dude and me is married now. We is wife and husband. Dude, he is an innocent young boy, unused to the sinful ways of the country, and I am a woman preacher of the gospel. You ought to make Dude a preacher, too, and let us use our new automobile in taking trips all over the country to pray for sinners. You ought to learn him to be a fine preacher so we can make all the goats into sheep. That's all this time. We're in a hurry now. Save us from the devil and make a place for us in heaven. Amen." There was a rustle¹⁰ of skirts as Sister Bessie jumped to her feet and began running excitedly around the room. She came back and pulled at Dude, making him put his arms around her waist. Outside in the yard, Jeeter and Ellie May had been standing¹¹ on their toes looking in through the window to see what Dude and Bessie were doing. There were no curtains over the windows, and the board blinds had had to be opened so there would be light in the room. Dude stood for several minutes watching Bessie as she tried to pull him across the room. She finally sat down on one of the beds and attempted to make him sit beside her. "You ain't going to sleep now, is you?" he asked. "It ain't time to go to bed yet. It ain't no more than noontime now." "Just for now," she said. "We can go out again after a while and take a ride in the automobile." Dude ran to the window to look at the car. For the moment, he had completely forgotten about it. When he reached the window, he saw Jeeter and Ellie May holding to the sill with the ends of their fingers and trying to see inside. "What you doing that for?" he asked Jeeter. "What you want to look at?" Jeeter turned away and looked out over the brown broom-sedge. Ellie May ran around to the back of the house and tip-toed into the hail through the kitchen. Bessie came to the window and pulled Dude around until he faced her. Then she made him go back and sit down on the bed. Suddenly, without knowing how it happened, Dude found himself on the bed with a quilt over him. Bessie had kicked her arms around him so tightly that he could not move in any direction. Outside, he heard a ladder scrape against the weatherboards. Jeeter had found the ladder under the crib and had brought it to the window.

1 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

2 jolted   

（使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• She was jolted out of her reverie as the door opened. 门一开就把她从幻想中惊醒。

3 stifled   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵

参考例句：

• The gas stifled them. 煤气使他们窒息。
• The rebellion was stifled. 叛乱被镇压了。

4 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

5 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

6 awed   

adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The audience was awed into silence by her stunning performance. 观众席上鸦雀无声，人们对他出色的表演感到惊叹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was awed by the huge gorilla. 那只大猩猩使我惊惧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 lustre   

n.光亮，光泽；荣誉

参考例句：

• The sun was shining with uncommon lustre.太阳放射出异常的光彩。
• A good name keeps its lustre in the dark.一个好的名誉在黑暗中也保持它的光辉。

8 knuckles   

n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝

参考例句：

• He gripped the wheel until his knuckles whitened. 他紧紧握住方向盘，握得指关节都变白了。
• Her thin hands were twisted by swollen knuckles. 她那双纤手因肿大的指关节而变了形。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。